Allison Springer and Arthur are back in familiar territory at Carolina International, leading the CIC3* on 40.7 at the lunch break on day two with just one more group to come this afternoon. These two won the CIC3* last year, and now one year later at 18 years old, Arthur proved he can still throw down in the sandbox against the best horses in the country — not that we expected anything less!

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen scored 41.3 to sit in second place on the CIC3*, about 4 marks above of our expected score for them. But they’re still positioned well on the leaderboard and also have the advantage of coming off a strong win at Pine Top CIC3* last month.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda, who led overnight after the first day of dressage action, now sit in third place on 41.5. Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night scored 42.5 to slot into fourth place, and Will Faudree and Hans Dampf delivered a personal best of 42.7 to round out the top five.

Will Faudree and Hans Dampf. Photo by Jenni Autry.

The scoring today in the CIC3* has been very consistently close to the expected averages during both morning sessions, with scores less than a point below the expected marks. Thank you once again to EN’s data analyst Maggie Deatrick for crunching numbers today.

We also have a new leader in the CIC2*, with Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z scoring a personal best of 41.7 in the second two-star start of his career. The overnight leaders Cornelia Dorr and Louis M slipped to second place on 44.4 (click here to watch their test). Hannah Sue Burnett and RF Demeter scored 45.2 in their second two-star start as a pair to sit third on 45.2.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

Boyd Martin and Long Island T are still holding the CIC* lead on 35.5, and he now has another ride at the top of the leaderboard with Contessa, who scored 35.8 for second place. Matt Brown and BCF Belicoso are tied for third place on 37.5 with Lynn Symansky and Neptune.

It’s been a brisk morning in Southern Pines, and the chilly conditions can best be described as ⛄⛄⛄⛄. Temperatures have thawed to about 50 degrees at the lunch break, and we’re all looking forward to warmer weather over the next three days of competition at the beautiful Carolina Horse Park.

You can watch the finale of CIC3* dressage live on EQSportsNet starting at 1 p.m. EST. Leslie Threlkeld and I are your boots on the ground at Carolina this weekend, and we’ve been putting lots of extra photos on Instagram, so be sure to scroll through our feed for a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina. Go Eventing.